Arrow having a freely shiftable arrowhead



Sept. 8, 1970 y M- L. TURNER ARROW HAVING A FREELY SHIFTABLE ARROWHEADFiled Nov. 28, 1967 INVENTOR.

MANNING LE E TURNER ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,527,463 ARROWHAVING A FREELY SHIFTABLE ARROWHEAD Manning Lee Turner, Charlotte, N.C.,assignor of twenty percent each to Channing L. Richards and Howard C.Simpson, twelve and one-half percent to Beuna S. Shumate, and seven andone-half percent to Armand L. Zavitz, all of Charlotte, N.C.

Filed Nov. 28, 1967, Ser. No. 686,099 Int. Cl. A63b 65/02; A01k 81/04;F41b /02 US. Cl. 273-1065 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An arrowused primarily for game hunting comprising an elongated shaft memberhaving a generally flat arrowhead mounted at one end thereof by anattachment fixture which allows the arrowhead to shift freely withrespect to the shaft member about the longitudinal axis of the arrowwhen the arrow is in flight. Preferably, the fietching secured to thearrow extends parallel to the longitudinal axis thereof.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Arrows used in hunting game animals arefitted with special arrowheads designed to inflict the greatest possibledamage to the animal when it is hit, and while these arrowheads may varyto some extent in size and shape depending on the particular game beinghunted and the individual taste of the hunter, they are almost alwaysformed with a generally fiat, wedge-shaped configuration designed tosever a maximum number of the animals blood vessels and thereby promoteheavy bleeding which ultimately results in the death of the animal.

Because of their flat construction, arrowheads of this type act somewhatin the nature of an airfoil when the arrow is in flight, and thereactive forces induced by this airfoil phenomenon are applied againstthe arrowhead and transmitted to the arrow shaft member integrally fixedthereto with a tendency to cause the arrow to depart from its intendedtrajectory unless something is done to counteract this effect.

So far as I am aware, the only method heretofore employed to counteractthis effect has been the standard practice of arranging the arrowfietching so that it has a slightly spiralled extent along the shaftmember of the arrow whereby the air passing over the fietching imposes aturning moment on the arrow causing it to rotate about its longitudinalaxis so as to neutralize the aforementioned reactive force action at thearrowhead and thereby follow a substantially true path of flight.

However, the necessity of imparting rotational movement to the arrowalso results in several disadvantages, including increased windresistance caused by the relatively large flat surfaces of the arrowheadand fietching being turned in the surrounding air, and additional noisewhich may forewarn the intended prey of the arrows approach. Also, sincethe arrowhead is rotating when it strikes the animal, undesirabletearing of the animals flesh results and the penetration of the arrow isreduced.

All of these disadvantages are effectively eliminated by the presentinvention which provides a unique arrow that follows an extremelyaccurate flight path without the need of having any rotational movementimposed on the arrow.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, theelongated shaft member of an arrow is provided at one of its ends withan attachment fixture by which the arrowhead is mounted 3,527,463Patented Sept. 8., 1970 on the shaft member so as to be freely shiftablewith respect thereto about the longitudinal axis of the arrow. By virtueof this free mounting of the arrowhead on the shaft member, theaforementioned reactive forces acting on the arrowhead simply cause itto shift about its own axis in much the same manner as a weather vane.As a result, the necessity of imposing a rotational movement on thearrow to neutralize these forces is eliminated and, since the shiftingmovement of the arrowhead is caused by the passing air, such movementdoes not generate any substantial wind resistance which would adverselyaffect the speed of the arrow or its path of flight. Additionally, thismounting of the arrowhead permits replacement of the spirally extendingarrow fietching with straight, longitudinally extending fietching of thetype heretofore associated primarily with target arrows which have smallconical heads that do not present the ballistic problems caused by theflat hunting-type arrowheads.

Thus, the arrow of the present invention follows a true path of flightwhile traveling at greater speeds and with less noise than huntingarrows heretofore known. Moreover, the absence of a rapidly rotatingarrowhead permits a deeper penetration of the arrow when it strikes thetarget animal and also results in a neater wound.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an elevation viewillustrating an arrow having a hunting-type arrowhead mounted thereon inaccordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the arrow shown in FIG. 1,partly broken away to illustrate the mounting arrangement for thearrowhead;

FIG. 3 is an elevation view of the attachment fixture for mounting thearrowhead on the shaft member of the arrow; and

FIG. 4 is an end view of the attachment fixture illustrated in FIG. 3.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now in detail to thedrawings, FIG. 1 illustrates an arrow 10 composed of a conventionalelongated shaft member 12 made of a suitable material such as fiberglass or aluminum and fitted at one of its ends with a mock 14 andfietching 16, the other end of shaft member 12 being fitted with atypical arrowhead 18 used for hunting game animals. The arrowhead 18 isgenerally flat (see FIG. 2), and has a wedge-shaped or flaredconfiguration extending from a sharp point 20 to a maximum width thatsubstantially exceeds the thickness of the shaft member 12, the sideedges of the arrowhead 18 being sharpened so as to sever a large numberof blood vessels when the arrow 10 strikes its target.

In contrast to the conventional prior art practice of uniting the shaftmember and arrowhead together as an integral unit, the arrowhead 18 ofthe present invention is mounted at one end of the shaft member 12 by anattachment fixture 22 which permits the arrowhead 18 to shift freelywith respect to the shaft member 12 about the longitudinal axis of thearrow 10. As best seen in FIGS. 2 and 3, the attachment fixture 22comprises a first component 24 secured to the shaft member 12 at one endthereof, a second component 26 secured to the arrowhead 18, and a pinelement 28 extending through centrally located bores 30 and 32 formed,respectively, in first component 24 and second component 26. The bores30 and 32 extend along the longitudinal axis of the arrow 10 and have adiameter which is slightly greater than the diameter of pin element 28so as to permit free relative shifting of the components 24 and 26 withrespect to each other about the pin element 28 and the longitudinal axisof the arrow, and the pin element 28 is provided with enlarged end parts34 having a diameter larger than the diameter of bores 30 and 32 tomaintain components 24 and 26 in longitudinal adjacency. It will benoted that pin element 28 has suflicient length to allow a slightspacing between first component 24 and second component 26 to allowrelative shifting of the latter free of any frictional contact withfirst component 24.

The first component 24 of attachment fixture 22 is cylindrically shapedso that it can be inserted in the hollow end of shaft member 12 untilthe end face of the shaft member 12 abuts the shoulder 36 of the firstcomponent 24 as seen in FIG. 2. Normally, the first component 24 ispermanently secured in place with a suitable adhesive, and it isprovided with circumferentially extending edges 38 to facilitate holdingthe first component 24 securely in place. The second component 26, whichis left free to shift about the extending portion of pin element 28 whenfirst component 24 is secured in place, is formed as a frustum withcircumferentially extending ribs 40 that engage the hollow portion 42 ofarrowhead 18 with a press-fit to hold it in place. While arrowhead 18may be permanently secured to second component 26 with an adhesive, thepress-fit mounting is generally preferable because it allows thearrowhead 18 to be removed and replaced with comparatively littletrouble.

With the arrowhead 18 mounted on shaft member 12 in this manner, it isapparent that any reactive forces acting at the flat surface areas ofarrowhead 18 when the arrow is in flight will simply cause the arrowhead18 and second component 26 to shift about the pin element 28 and,therefore, these forces will not adversely affect the trajectory of thearrow. Similarly, small twigs or the like which lie in the path of thearrows flight will, in many cases, result only in the arrowhead 18 beingshifted about pin element 28 rather than causing the arrow to alter itscourse.

Finally, since the present invention eliminates the necessity ofimposing rotation on the arrow 10, the fletching 16, which hasheretofore been arranged for spiral extent along the shaft member 12 inarrows having hunting-type arrowheads, may now extend longitudinallyalong the shaft member 12 as seen in FIG. 1 thereby increasing the speedof the arrow because the wind resistance formerly generated by therotation of the shaft member and the fietching is no longer present. Itwill be noted, however, that the arrowhead mounting of the presentinvention may also be used with spiral fletching, if desired, and theaforementioned advantages derived from a freely shiftable arrowhead willstill be realized.

The present invention has been described in detail above for purposes ofillustration only and is not intended to be limited by this descriptionor otherwise except as defined in the appended claims. For example, incases where the shaft member 12 is made without a hollow end portion,the first component 24 of the attachment fixture 22 could be formed tofit around the end of shaft member 12 rather than for insertion therein.Likewise, the pin element 28 could be fixed to either the firstcomponent 24 or second component 26 without departing from the scope ofthe present invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In an arrow including an elongated shaft member having a generallyflat arrowhead located at one end thereof, the improvement comprisingmeans mounting said arrowhead at said one end of the shaft member topermit free shifting of the arrowhead with respect to said shaft memberabout the longitudinal axis of said arrow upon movement of said arrow inflight.

2. In an arrow of the character described, the improvement defined inclaim 1 and further characterized in that said mounting means comprisesan attachment fixture including a first component secured to said shaftmember at said one end thereof, a second component secured to saidarrowhead, and means interconnecting said first and second components topermit free relative shifting thereof about the longitudinal axis ofsaid arrow.

3. In an arrow of the character described, the improvement defined inclaim 2 and further characterized in that said shaft member is hollow atsaid one end thereof and said attachment fixture first component isreceived and permanently secured therein, and in that said arrowheadincludes a hollow portion receiving said attachment fixture secondcomponent with a press-fit.

4. In an arrow of the character described, the improvement defined inclaim 2 and further characterized in that said first and secondattachment fixture components each include a centrally located boreextending along said longitudinal axis of said arrow, and in that saidattachment fixture interconnecting means comprises a pin elementextending freely through said bores in said first and second componentsand having enlarged end parts to maintain said first and secondcomponents in longitudinal adjacency.

5. In an arrow of the character described, the improvement defined inclaim 1 and further characterized in that the other end of said shaftmember includes fletching extending therealong in a direction parallelto said longitudinal axis of the arrow, and in that said arrowhead has aflared configuration with a maximum width that substantially exceeds thethickness of said shaft member.

6. An attachment fixture for rotatably mounting a generally flatarrowhead on the shaft member of an arrow, said attachment fixturecomprising a first component adapted to be secured to said shaft memberat said one end thereof, a second component adapted to be secured tosaid arrowhead, and means interconnecting said first and secondcomponents to permit free relative shifting thereof about thelongitudinal axis of said arrow when said attachment fixture is securedin place and the arrow is moving in flight.

7. An attachment fixture as defined in claim 6 and further characterizedin that said first component has a cylindrical shape and is formed withcircumferentially extending edges to facilitate permanently securingsaid first component within a hollow end of said shaft member, and inthat said second component is formed as a frustum with circumferentiallyextending ribs to facilitate securing said second component within ahollow portion of said arrowhead with a press-fit.

8. An attachment fixture as defined in claim 7 and further characterizedin that said first and second components each include a longitudinallyextending bore, and in that said interconnecting means comprises a pinelement extending freely through the bores in said first and secondcomponents and having enlarged end parts to maintain said first andsecond components in longitudinal adjacency.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,796,691 6/1957 Norris.

2,816,765 12/1957 Stockfieth.

2,833,266 5/1958 Mares 43-6 XR OTHER REFERENCES Archery Magazine,January 1964, p. 5, Fleetwood Archery Co. Ad.

ANTON O. OECHSLE, Primary Examiner P. E. SHAPIRO, Assistant ExaminerU.S. Cl. X.R. 43-6

